I thought I would post a few images of Chinese cash coins in the process of being cleaned.

Like ancient Roman and Greek coins the patina on Chinese cash coins is important and can add substantially to the value. Chinese collectors in particular can greatly value the esthetic qualities of the various colour combinations - cash patinas can include colours seldom seen in western ancients such as blue, red, orange and purple.

However, it is also more common to find Chinese cash that have been chemically cleaned, often done to a very high standard, revealing the original metal. And interestingly, this is not considered by many to be as heinous a "crime" as it is with say Roman coins.

It is also very common to find Chinese cash where the raised surfaces - the calligraphy characters and the rims - are cleaned, sometimes even to shiny metal, while the fields still have a patina or even a thick crust.

As such, in many loads of bulkChinese cash few if any coins require much cleaning beyond a nylon brushing or picking the dirt out of the characters.

However, sometimes you encounter real "crusties" among the bulk coins and this can be very exciting as they are truely unsorted - they can not be identified until cleaned. These coins have a very hard, but usually smooth, crust on them. It can be quite thick.

Most websites I have seen that address cleaning Chinese cash recommend chemical cleaning. However, being primarily a cleaner of LRBCs, I like to attack them mechanically.

Scalpel/x-acto knife is of some use but may main weapon is the steel pin - usually a sewing needle - which I keep sharp with a whetstone.

Below is a before picture of four Northern Sung Dynasty (my guess based on fabric and rest of the bulk lot) Chinese cash. Note the very thick, hard patina.

In this next photo I have used the pin/needle on approximately 50% of the surface of each of the same four coins. This represents only an initial round of work on each coin. Approximately 5-7 minutes per coin.

The needle was sharp, the angle very low (almost parallel with the coin's surface) but the pressure required is very hard. This work is rough on the wrists.

The encrustations will flake away. Sometimes in very large chunks.

You can see small and large flakes lying around. You can also see the brown-ish patina of the coins exposed.

In this image you can see the two right hand side coins from the previous images.

I have used the pin/needle on the entire surface of the two coins. I also went back over the entire coin with a small pin to work more carefully on the characters.

The area around the bottom character of the lower coin looks odd. It has a casting flaw where the copper at the rim and lower part of this character are raised very thick. This makes the area look shiny with the side lighting I used.

I plan to leave these two coins as is now. Not only can the basic type be identified but even the Gorny variation.

I could easily get more of the encrustation off, particularly around the characters, but it is still hard and the force required makes working in those areas too risky - too much chance of scratches.

Besides, personally I like the constrast offered by the green.

I spent roughly 20-30 minutes per coin. I know that in terms of time versus value that might be considered a waste. I could have bought versions as nice as I ended up with or even better for under $5 each. However, it is my hobby and not my investment and I am quite happy with my results.

Excellent topic Shawn, I also have been working on uncleaned Cash CoinsAnd have wondered why we never see any post in the unclean section on them.There seems to be very little info on the web with the exception as you stated of bulk chemical cleaning by acid bath!!

great topic,I have a very similar 1/2 kilo of fused Wu Zhu coins and have had some luck separating and cleaning them. My first step is to put the coins in a mesh "dive" bag, put it on the grass, and spray it with the hose under high pressure. This gets most of the dust and loose soil off as well as separating the loosest chunks (caution at this step, a few coins have broken). Next is soaking in distilled water for a couple of weeks with regular water changes. The next step I use is to drain off most of the water and subject them to numerous freeze thaw cycles. This separates many of the coins and also flakes off some more soil. I have been left with some beautiful blue and turquoise patinas.I also have some Kai yuans that were not as bad and they are cleaning up nicely with soaking, picking with some skewers and brushing.I will try to get some pics.Do any of you oil, wax, or stabilize in any way? I have on some coins, and not on others, but haven't been doing this long enough to see any difference.Also, what do you do with the iron coins? I have been tempted to just acid wash some real crusties , but am pretty sure not much will be left if I do.

I wonder if Joe would sponsor a Chinese Uncleaned competition here?If he is game, and there is interest I would be willing to donate some coins to help get the first round going.That might increase the Chinese Cash coin collecting exposure here, we are underrepresented .

I wonder if Joe would sponsor a Chinese Uncleaned competition here?If he is game, and there is interest I would be willing to donate some coins to help get the first round going.That might increase the Chinese Cash coin collecting exposure here, we are underrepresented .

That's an idea. I have quiet a collection of crusties waiting their turn.Maybe get more input on cleaning skills & tips.

First on where to learn more. There is a good deal of info buried in the "Other Types of Ancient Coins" heading of this forum. There is another forum called zeno.ru. It has may images of Chinese cash but is not organized in a way that makes it good for the novice who wants to learn more.

You can then go into greater detail on minor variations through other books - Norman Gorny's series on orthern Song cash and some articles by Thierry in French on Wu Zhus and Kai Yuans.

As for what to collect, it is the same as with Roman. There are any number of options. Many people try to collec coins from each emperor. In addition many emperors issued coins in several "reign titles" thus there may be 2-4 typesper emperor. At the other end of the spectrum some people will collect only one coin type. The Wu Zhu was used from 118 BC to AD 617. There is a lifetime of variations in this coin alone.

What I like most about collecting coins is the knowledge about other times/places/cultures. It's much harder to appreciate the fine points without knowing anything,and the more you know the finer the points get